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“If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad!”
Plus how many people has Gary kept employed over the years...guitar makers, guitar shop owners, EBay sellers, UPS shippers, cardboard box makers...taxes paid on every transaction to support the local economies...
If everyone stuck to the rule of one guitar per person, the guitar companies and all their dependent businesses would go belly up for sure!
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03-13-2021 07:45 PM
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Again I get it selling widgets is what its all about!
What's difference between A Banjo and an Artillery Shell?
You can hear the shell comming!
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You're the wrong side of the Globe old bean!!!
Originally Posted by Peter C
I'm guessing you're in East Oz cuz it would be like 7:00 am in Perth right now
Yeah, but where do you put 32 guitars? In a barn?
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Oh, so spiffing old chap. A "Futurama", eh? My first electric c. 1968 in the UK was a Jaguar-shaped, presumably Japanese, affair with 3 black and white bakelite pickups disposed Strat-style with 3 rocker switches and trem. Long gone, of course. Have never found a pic of this extact model. Originally Posted by garybaldy
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This isn't mine but the same model. I sold mine to a friend who was a beginner and left handed. He butchered the top horn for better fret access.Early 1960's Futurama II Solid Guitar Originally Posted by Peter C
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Originally Posted by jads57
Yeah .. That is the thing .. You .. or some of them old time youtubers like that 5watt world dude .. Love to preach you don't need more than 5 (or whatever) electric guitars .... But that is after being thru a journey of a shit load of guitars.
The rest of us are in the middle of that journey and we are enjoying ourselves ... If you have a strat and a tele, do you really need a jazzmaster .. probably not, but let us see for ourselves.
You had your fun, why are you pointing fingers at us?
Having guitars is a joy in it self even if you're not a professional musician
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Shock! Horror! I've just seen a picture of Martin Taylor, on a social media site, presumably at his home, with 12 guitars and 2 mandolins (and a dog!). Do you think they could all be his?!!!
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I don't have more jokes, but real-life stories you may find humorous. Originally Posted by garybaldy
Now can we have more banjo and accordion jokes pls?
When I was about 20, I had a job teaching guitar in a music store in the Portugese neighborhood. The studios were basically large closets, and there was an accordion teacher in the room next to mine. I can still hear the 4 note riff she would teach, over & over, to this day, nearly 40 years later. I've had an aversion to the instrument ever since.
About 17 years ago, I developed an interest in the banjo. It has intriguing qualities, the earthy, folky sound, ability to stand alone as a solo instrument, etc.
I even took a lesson or 2 with Tony Trishcka. He thought "banjo was easy" compared to guitar. I remember he had some funny cartoons about the banjo on his wall. He taught me a couple of tunes, but I couldn't get used to the finger picks. Also, being left handed, I discovered most of the "work" with the banjo is actually in the right, picking hand. As in bluegrass in general, I found the constant stream of straight 8th notes to be kind of tiresome and limiting.
Anyway, I quit, and sold the banjo.
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While I begrudge no one their large collections (and enjoy collecting vicariously through some of you), I don't want one. I currently own 1 archtop, 1 semi hollow, 1 solidbody (strat), 1 acoustic (GJ), and a bass. I've been buying and selling over the last few years, so the number has moved up and down, but I am net down 2 guitars from a few years ago. This is partly because I don't have a lot of space so there's no place to put more, but it's also because I feel like too many options becomes a distraction and impedes my ability to drill deeply into the tone and expressive possibilities of the instruments I've got. I could see maybe getting a flattop because the GJ is not great for some of the acoustic music I play, but that would be it. Anything else would be 1-in-1-out.
All that said, I can see how one could get to a big number without intending to build a collection. I mean every once in a while you buy something because you need it for a project or a gig, or a deal you can't resist comes along, or for no particular reason, and space isn't a problem for you so you keep what you buy. You do this for 20-30 years, and you wind up with 30-odd guitars. I may own 4 guitars now, but I have owned considerably more. Had I had more space (and when I was younger enough money to be able to buy without selling), who knows?
John
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I don't consider myself a collector but ended up with a lot of guitars. I bought my first guitar around 1972, a dreadnought, and my second around 1974, solid body electric. Now almost 50 years later, counting up my guitars, bass guitars, mandolin, uke, I'm at 14 I think, (average cost probably around $500, it does add up to some $$$). That averages to about one purchase ever 3.5 years... that's what happened. I do want to sell some but I just never seem to get around to it.
I'd be fine with just a dreadnought, a tele and a bass. Better than fine if I added a 12 string, a nylon, a solid-body with humbuckers, and a mandolin. Those seven instruments is all I really want. I should be selling guitars and one of my basses.
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As I have said many times, I don't have a collection, but rather an accumulation. I find myself in a store to buy strings or picks or whatever, and there's some shiny thing up on the wall that's beaming "Play me! Play me!" into the center of my brain and the price tag bears a reasonable figure and the owner comes up and says "I can knock a couple hundred off that" and the next thing you know I'm closing the backhatch on another guitar (Or amp. Or both).* I ran out of room a long time ago. I stay ahead of the game by giving away stuff to younger (and frequently older) players. New (to me) instruments are always stimulating, and as I've always said, every guitar/amp has got at least one song in it, and by and large, I've found that to be true.
That's my story. I'm stickin' to it.
* Sometimes it's the Missus. I was out of the store and in the car three times before Mrs. k convinced me that ES-175 55th Anniversary Edition needed to live at our house.
I caved, b/c I may be crazy, but I' ain't that stupid!**
**Not a completely isolated incident.***
*** Thank goodness.
Last edited by citizenk74; 03-16-2021 at 05:40 PM.
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We all have our own journey through life and that means different needs, abilities and priorities. I say bravo to those who realize their dreams whether it means owning 300 guitars or just 1. I do think it a shame when guitars become case queens and are never played and sadly, in a lot of large collections, that happens.
Most of my life I owned 2 or 3 guitars. Space and resources dictated this mostly, but in my younger days, chasing women and dollars were a priority (no regrets, especially the part about the women). By my mid 40's, when acquired wealth gave me the space and resources to own as many guitars as I want and the ability to play music for a living (albeit a modest one), I started buying and selling guitars. I think the ease of buying and selling that the Internet provides also contributed to my becoming a guitar "collector".
At this point I have owned 105 guitars (including bass guitars) in total in the 53 years that I have been a guitar player, and currently, I have 17. The highest number that I have had at one time was 22 and I began to lose my bond with my guitars at that number so I sold a bunch and got down to 13. At 17, the bond is again slipping (too much time spent between guitars when rotating them) and I might sell a few in the next year or two. Will I ever go back to 2 or 3? Probably not. And why should I? I have earned them (no inheritance money made my fortune, only hard work, some luck and maybe a bit of genius). They all get played and when I am gigging, all come out to the gig from time to time including my 3 vintage D'Angelicos.
I would say that all of my guitars are exactly where they are supposed to be. Anybody who thinks that I have more guitars/money/property than I should have can jump in the proverbial lake.
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I guess as much as I understand the attraction of owning lots of guitars. I don't understand the point other than showing them off.
I would understand lots of different wrenches or screwdrivers,etc.which all perform a certain function. But multiples of the same 6 string Tele,Strat, LP, even
Johnny Smith type of archtop ?
Once you find the one that speaks to you, keep that one and sell the other.
And that's how I've always approached owning an instrument over 45 years.
So yes I've owned near 1000 guitars of all types mostly Gibson, Fender.
But only several at any one time.
As I got older and had more money, sure I had maybe 10 to 12 guitars. But again each guitar served a working or sonic purpose for the most part.
Archtop, Flat top, Tele, L.P., 335, Classical, etc. And I actually used these to make a living.
I don't begrudge collecting or investment purchases. But owning 12 sets of golf clubs is just silly!
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I used to have a rule of "one in, one out". But then I started regretting most of the guitars I've sold and wish I had kept them for one reason or the other.
So now my criterion is "space on the wall and floor, at home and at the office." I've got room for a couple more I guess. (I've also discovered the utility of guitars as wall art...hate to part with some cause they look so darn cool on the wall.)
The only one I didn't regret selling was the square neck Dobro I got. I discovered that playing Dobro is like learning an entirely new instrument from scratch. It didn't like me, so I sold it to an ENT doc who wanted to get into bluegrass.
Mine are all different kinds though. My girlfriend's ex has had serious GAS for years and has a half dozen almost identical Strats among many others. She said he never actually played them that much. I'm hoping she appreciates my jazz noodlings more than the classic rock/faux reggae he tended towards.
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Collecting (even on a small scale, and/or in conjunction with playing) is often at least as much about membership and fellowship as it is about the objects themselves. People develop a bond over a common interest, and in order to maintain the bond and to continue to have a reason to get together, gab, etc., they keep collecting (or trading). "Showing off" connotes a competitiveness or showing each other up, but if you look at how people react to NGD's, it's clear that's not the dynamic. It's much more genuinely congratulatory than that, plus stuff like appreciation for preserving an artifact, evoking history through the objects, or enjoying a pretty photograph. With guitars, there's a blurry line between utility and collecting. There might be subtle differences between ostensibly identical guitars that matter to the owner. Or maybe you need one for home, one for the studio, and one for the venue where you have a standing gig. Or maybe you just like having them for no particular reason or a quasi-compulsion to complete the series. Now what I definitely can't fathom is owning 1000 guitars over the course of a lifetime. I mean the level of effort involved in that much turnover strikes me as bananas. In a good way of course Originally Posted by jads57
I guess as much as I understand the attraction of owning lots of guitars. I don't understand the point other than showing them off.
I would understand lots of different wrenches or screwdrivers,etc.which all perform a certain function. But multiples of the same 6 string Tele,Strat, LP, even
Johnny Smith type of archtop ?
Once you find the one that speaks to you, keep that one and sell the other.
And that's how I've always approached owning an instrument over 45 years.
So yes I've owned near 1000 guitars of all types mostly Gibson, Fender.
But only several at any one time.
As I got older and had more money, sure I had maybe 10 to 12 guitars. But again each guitar served a working or sonic purpose for the most part.
Archtop, Flat top, Tele, L.P., 335, Classical, etc. And I actually used these to make a living.
I don't begrudge collecting or investment purchases. But owning 12 sets of golf clubs is just silly! And realistically, anyone who says they've owned 1000 guitars is kidding himself. That's renting, not owning.
John
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My thought on guitars, and owning more than one.
First of all, a player should be allowed one guitar for every sound they need, and a backup for every sound they gig with.
So for me, I have 2 teles, because I do country gigs. Like you know, when there's gigs. And I also have a Jazzmaster, because one of those gigs is a Johnny Cash act, so yeah, to be more authentic. Or something.
I have an electric archtop and a backup, for jazz. And an acoustic archtop because big bands are gonna be huge again, guys are gonna be lining up to sit in front of a bunch of horns blowing spit out at them, so I need to be ready for auditions. And a gypsy jazz guitar because even though I can't stand most of the guys in the scene around here, it's jazz, and it has a scene, so yeah, I got one of those.
And a nylon string. Well 2. Three actually, but one sits in my office at school. So two, and acoustic and one that plugs in. Because I played a wedding ceremony gig like 8 years ago, and you never know, maybe that guy will get remarried at some point.
And every guitar player has to have a flat top, for sitting around in the summer, strumming tunes. Or, you know, three of 'em, because body sizes sound different.
Oh and I got a Danelectro too, which I hang on to in case my jangle pop/shoegaze band from college ("The Sleeves") gets back together.
Anybody got any work for an electric sitar, by the way? I'd like to need one.
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Yeah .. I'm not into having a zillion telecasters club either .. I dig that you might want one set up with say 9s and one with heavier flats, but otherwise Originally Posted by jads57
I guess as much as I understand the attraction of owning lots of guitars. I don't understand the point other than showing them off.
I would understand lots of different wrenches or screwdrivers,etc.which all perform a certain function. But multiples of the same 6 string Tele,Strat, LP, even
Johnny Smith type of archtop ?
Once you find the one that speaks to you, keep that one and sell the other.
And that's how I've always approached owning an instrument over 45 years.
So yes I've owned near 1000 guitars of all types mostly Gibson, Fender.
But only several at any one time.
As I got older and had more money, sure I had maybe 10 to 12 guitars. But again each guitar served a working or sonic purpose for the most part.
Archtop, Flat top, Tele, L.P., 335, Classical, etc. And I actually used these to make a living.
I don't begrudge collecting or investment purchases. But owning 12 sets of golf clubs is just silly!
My current collection is
Tele, Strat and Jazzmaster
Planks with P90s, humbuckers and mini-humbuckers
and 2 archtops a thinline with 2 pups and a ES175 style with one pup
I might be tempted by something like a Gretsch .. Either a jet with dynasonics or something like a G6118T ... or a 335 in cherry red simply cause I like how they look
But yeah .. I'm slowly running out of ideas
But still ... You can argue that collecting art is silly too .. Why do you want stupid paintings on your wall? ... They just hang there and do nothing!
If having ten telecasters in it self makes someone happy then I'm all for it!!
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1000 guitars?, sounds like a business, not a hobby. And we are talking the business of buying and selling guitars for profit (and there is nothing wrong with that at all), not the business of performing with a guitar. What performer would go through 1000 guitars to find the right tool for the job? Originally Posted by John A.
Now what I definitely can't fathom is owning 1000 guitars over the course of a lifetime. I mean the level of effort involved in that much turnover strikes me as bananas. In a good way of course And realistically, anyone who says they've owned 1000 guitars is kidding himself. That's renting, not owning.
John
The great builders often owned over a 1000 guitars of course. Thinking about the required string changes with having owned 1000 guitars makes my fingers hurt.
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first it was thousands, now it's 'near a thousand' I suspect it's much lower than that.
even if you only owned [one] thousand over 35 yrs, that means you bought about 30 a year in that time span.
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I've been playing guitar since I was 10 years old, I'm now 63. I've never owned more than a few guitars at a time. But I always traded them for others. I never had the luxury as a local poor pro musician since I was 19 to have more than 2 at one time.
That changed when I became 33 or so and started to make more money,and doing studio dates for local albums,jingles, shows at casinos, concerts, churches, weddings, teaching,etc.
I felt the need to have different axes for different purposes. But even then it was more of a tax write off, and self indulgence.
I really hated the upkeep here in Minnesota with adjusting necks, humidifier, string changes, taking up space in a smaller house,etc.
If I feel the need to play a guitar I don't own I just go to the local music store and play them there. And if it knocks me out I'll buy it. But then one in one out type of rule applies for me as well.
Like I've said I'm the worst at owning gear. If it's a a great Gibson or Fender I've probably owned it several times. Even amps and pedals. But if it doesn't work for me any longer it gets sold or traded, no matter what its worth.
I've lost a lot of money and been called foolish for my habits, which is true.
But it's about using these as tools to make a living, not for hobby purposes.
And I guess that's where I find it interesting and silly.
Even my dad loved fishing and golfing for a hobby . But he only owned a couple of fishing rods and one set of decent golf clubs, LOL !
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Interesting because I like guitars and road bicycles but really only need 2 road bikes. One to ride and the other one as a backup in case the main one is getting any work done on it and for a change. I just cannot see owing 5-6 bikes but i know riders who do and they are like guitar collectors.
But the guitar on the other hand I like to play different ones all the time. Or at least different archtop guitars since i really don't care much for solidbody guitars. In reality like the bikes, I probably only need at least 2 or 3 on a practical level. I like to ride my bike almost as much as playing the guitar so go figure.
Like SS I don't mind collectors but I like to see all guitars played. Those that hang in museums even the great D'a and Strombergs are a complete waste those guitars should be played regularly maybe they are but my guess is most are not. I actually avoid going to those places because it just does not sit right with me. In my case I have no problem letting a person play a guitar I have assuming, they are a guitar player and appreciate the instrument. I will never forget when Jimmy D'aquisto handed me a brand new New Yorker to play maybe 2 years before he died. He certainly was careful but he also knew his guitars were to be played.
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I wonder if the D’Angs and D’Aquis, early Epis and Gibbys, and others, do belong in a museum and in private collections where they are looked after and only played lightly, if at all.
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I have a friend who is a serious guitar collector who once told me "the worst thing for these guitars is guitar players". At first I was put off by that comment, but now I get it: players tend to drag them out to funky bars, beat them up, change parts, add tremoloes etc. Originally Posted by Bach5G
Whereas the ones he has collected have been preserved. And BTW we are talking very serious rare instruments that are worth a fortune. Vintage Les Pauls, ES's, Fenders, Martins etc.
And he plays them, and lets anyone who comes by play them, so they get some action.
I'm kind of glad they found a home where they could be kept intact and in original condition.
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That to me is the worst! Owning a tool you never use for it's intended purpose.
Even Joe Bonamassa gigs most of his high end guitars.
Sure for insurance purposes I'd never leave a guitar unattended at any gig that was worth 6 figures.
But I'd never own a guitar worth that to begin with. When I owned a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Gold top with PAFs. They were worth $1400. Same with 2 Dumble OD Specials I gigged with around the same money.
No Instrument is actually worth astronomical money, even D'Aquisto etc. They only get that money for silly rich people who speculate money in art,collectable items.
This is what I'm talking about, we aren't talking about actual instruments in those situations. We're talking about Dreams and Status in a society.
It just happens to be guitars at the moment, because of our age and Rock has come of age!
P.S. I quit counting at 500 when I was in my 30s LOL!
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doesn't really matter how many i own/owned...more important (to me) is how many i been around...worked on, played, smelt, felt or even just ogled at...for decades now...and loved (almost) each and every one!
i love guitars! a well set up guitar still makes me very happy
cheers
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